Hebrews 12:1–29 is crucial because it is the only New Testament passage that directly quotes Haggai. The author identifies the first shaking
with God’s appearance at Sinai and then contrasts that event with the greater reality believers now experience in Christ. Through Jesus, a new and better kingdom has arrived, and when the church gathers, those on earth join the worship of heaven.
Hebrews 12:26 cites Haggai 2:6 to explain that what is shakeable—the created order—is being removed, while what is unshakeable—the new reality established by Christ’s resurrection—is being set in place. The author makes this explicit in Hebrews 12:28: Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
The kingdom is not merely future; it is something believers are already receiving.
More precisely, the future unshakeable kingdom has entered the present through the risen Christ, who now lives in the power of an indestructible life (Hebrews 5:9; Hebrews 7:16).
For the remnant in Haggai’s day, the shaking was still future. But for the church—made up of Jews and Gentiles—the prophetic future has broken into the present through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Hebrews teaches us to read Haggai’s shaking as fulfilled in Christ’s coming and ongoing reign.
Today, even as the world continues to shake,
the unshakeable things are being established. The church belongs to that unshakeable reality and is called to bear witness to the good news of the kingdom that cannot be moved.
6 For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.